Ashley Graham on the Supermodel Advice She Got Before Walking the Michael Kors Runway

“I’m just trying to tell myself it’s a normal day,” said Ashley Graham backstage at Michael Kors this morning. But for Graham, it’s a major moment—this is her first time walking for Kors, in fact, she says, “this is the biggest show I’ve ever walked in.” Looking around the room she explains her excitement. “Amber! Bella! Imaan! Kendall! Carolyn! Miss Arizona! Miss Joan!” she continues, roll-calling the supermodel cast list. “There’s age, there’s size, and there’s ethnicity. I’m so honored to be a part of it.” No stranger to the spotlight, when Graham is not gracing the cover of a magazine (see this month’s Vogue) or shooting campaigns for her own swimsuit collection, she’s sharing every minute in between with her 3.2 million Instagram followers.

What she is not so familiar with is walking down the runway. For her strut in the slit-up-to-there black knit dress and cropped gray fur, she garnered advice from castmate Bella Hadid. “Her walk is life. So I was like, ‘You need to give me some pointers, I’m nervous!’ ” Hadid’s advice was more common sense than Graham expected. “She said, ‘Just do your walk. Whatever feels most comfortable to you.’ ” It seemed to be the theme for the show. Makeup, too, was about letting the models’ own natural beauty shine through. “We’re not trying to change them,” confirmed Dick Page of the barely there look that included a wiggle of a brow gel through the eyebrows, a muted rimming of brown eyeliner, and a few dabs of concealer when necessary. Hair simply embraced each woman’s texture and haircut.

The models were certainly happy to be themselves. Throwing back glasses of freshly pressed green juice, they broke into spontaneous dance parties, with Selena Forrest playing Rihanna’s “Work” for her friends on their parade from the makeup chairs to the dressing room. “Now you can be yourself more, you can be a woman,” said runway stalwart Isabeli Fontana. “It’s more human, and more interesting. I feel more beautiful.” Natasha Poly agreed citing the industry shift toward celebrating models as individuals. “There are different characters now, different body types, different personalities, it’s more about the background and the story of [each model].”

Fashion’s love affair with diversity is something Carolyn Murphy credits partly to social media. “Now you have girls who can promote themselves. Times are changing. It’s like a revolution.” And this leads to a huge support of “race, shape, [and] size,” she says, both on and off the runway. Graham has been inspired watching the change. “[I’m used to being] the only curved girl—I’m just excited that every designer and every magazine is going in the right direction. There have been about four or five designers who have had multiple curved girls in their shows this season and it’s been remarkable. It’s not just one designer. It’s not just one model. It’s the wave of the future.”